My girlfriend just inherited for free a really old laptop, that she has used at her job for years. It has an essential mechanic program on it that she needs. Her boss got a new one and gave this one to her cause he knew she needed the program. (different program that the last one i asked you guys help for)
The laptop is a Compaq Presario 3000 from 2000/2001. She's been using for 3 years and the whole time she's had a problem starting it. It only started like 1 on 3 times and is still like that. When you turn it on it's just dead...press the power button, fiddle with it...nothing. Then on 2nd or 3rd try several minutes later it miraculously starts up fine and functions like a charm. What could be causing this intermittent start up issue? Any ideas?

I had a similar problem, with my Toshiba, but this was a 2009/2010 model. Turns out my mother board was going out and there was nothing I could do but replace my laptop. Well since I bought the damn thing at Best Buy and I hate Best Buy I found a way through a mindfuck of questions to get them to replace it for free. I cant give you a definitive answer simply because of the "age" difference between the laptops, only a guess.